TL;DR
Apple is reportedly lobbying Washington for permission to buy memory chips from China’s CXMT, which is on a Pentagon blacklist, after raising some Mac and iPad prices amid a global memory shortage. The report highlights a wider supply problem: Europe has strengths in chipmaking tools and research, but no major DRAM or HBM producer of its own.
Apple is reportedly lobbying Washington for permission to buy memory chips from China’s CXMT, a company on the Pentagon’s 1260H list, after raising some Mac and iPad prices because of the global memory shortage.
The reported request, attributed to the Financial Times and cited by 9to5Mac and Engadget, comes as rising memory prices are feeding into consumer hardware costs. The source material says Apple’s move followed price increases on Macs and iPads that the company linked to the shortage.
The confirmed market backdrop is a sharp squeeze in DRAM and high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, both needed across PCs, servers and AI systems. According to Counterpoint figures cited in the source material, memory prices have roughly quadrupled over three quarters, with some segments rising even more year over year.
The policy issue is different in the United States and Europe. Apple has access to a domestic memory supplier, Micron, and can ask U.S. officials for clearance to use a Chinese supplier. Europe, by contrast, has no major DRAM or HBM manufacturer, leaving buyers exposed to prices and allocations set elsewhere.
Apple is reaching for Chinese memory. Europe doesn’t even have that option.
The shortage exposes America’s dependence — and Europe’s far more brutally. Apple has a domestic supplier, political weight, and the China option. Europe has no memory of its own, no seat at the table, no leverage on what counts.
- EU makes < 10% of the world’s semiconductors
- Effectively no DRAM, no HBM from Europe
- 3–4 memory makers worldwide — none European
- Pure price-taker: memory ~4× in 3 quarters
- ASML: EUV monopoly — no leading-edge chip without it
- Zeiss: precision optics, unrivalled worldwide
- imec · CEA-Leti · Fraunhofer: world-class research
- Infineon, NXP, STMicro: automotive · power · SiC
The shortage is a sovereignty test — Europe fails on supply but still holds the leverage in its hand. If even Apple can’t buy its way out, Europe’s answer isn’t to buy its way in, but to run two tracks: press the unique chokepoints as real leverage — and cut dependence wherever it can without Brussels: local-first, open weights, quantization, right-sized hardware. Bury the 20% dream, defend what’s yours, need less.
Europe Lacks Memory Leverage
The report matters because the shortage is no longer only a cost problem for chip buyers. It is becoming a test of industrial leverage: who has suppliers, who has political access, and who can secure scarce parts when demand rises.
Europe’s position is weak on memory. The European Commission has said the EU is almost entirely dependent on the United States and Asia for semiconductor supply, and the source material says Europe makes effectively no DRAM or HBM. That leaves European companies as price-takers in one of the most important inputs for computing and AI infrastructure.
The contrast with Apple is the central point. Even if Apple faces higher costs and tighter supply, it can still use U.S. political channels, domestic suppliers and possible overseas alternatives. European buyers have fewer direct levers when memory makers in South Korea, the United States and China decide where scarce production goes.
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The Chips Act Target Slips
The EU Chips Act, adopted in 2023, aimed to lift Europe’s share of global chip production to 20 percent by 2030 with about €43 billion in mobilized funding. The source material says current European Commission estimates point closer to 11.7 percent by 2030.
The European Court of Auditors said in December 2025 that the 20 percent goal was very unlikely. The source material also cites ASML estimates that reaching the target would require more than €250 billion, far above the current funding scale.
Europe still has important semiconductor strengths. ASML dominates EUV lithography tools, Zeiss supplies precision optics, and research centers such as imec, CEA-Leti and Fraunhofer remain influential. European companies including Infineon, NXP and STMicroelectronics are strong in automotive, power and silicon carbide chips. But those strengths do not give Europe a direct memory supply base.
“Almost entirely dependent”
— European Commission
CXMT Approval Still Unresolved
It is not yet clear whether U.S. officials will approve Apple’s reported request, what restrictions would apply, or whether Apple would buy CXMT chips at scale. The source material does not confirm the volume, timing or specific Apple products that could use CXMT memory.
It is also unclear how long the memory shortage will last. Demand from AI data centers, PC makers and cloud providers is competing for limited DRAM and HBM capacity, and the source material says some scarce output has already been committed to large U.S. buyers.
Policy Focus Turns To Supply
The next test is whether Washington permits any Apple sourcing from CXMT and whether memory prices keep feeding into consumer device prices. For Europe, the more immediate issue is whether policymakers shift from broad market-share targets toward specific supply chokepoints, including advanced packaging, lower dependence on scarce hardware and stronger use of existing European assets such as ASML and Zeiss.
Key Questions
What did Apple reportedly do?
Apple reportedly asked Washington for clearance to buy memory chips from CXMT, a Chinese manufacturer on a Pentagon blacklist.
Why is CXMT politically sensitive?
CXMT is on the Pentagon’s 1260H list, which identifies Chinese companies linked by U.S. authorities to military concerns. Any major U.S.-linked purchase would carry policy scrutiny.
Why does this affect Europe?
Europe has no major DRAM or HBM maker, so it has less control over supply and pricing when memory becomes scarce. That makes the shortage a direct industrial policy problem.
Does Europe have any chip strengths?
Yes. Europe has major strengths in EUV lithography, precision optics, research and automotive or power chips through firms and institutions such as ASML, Zeiss, imec, Infineon, NXP and STMicroelectronics.
Is the EU still likely to hit its 2030 chip target?
The European Court of Auditors said in December 2025 that the goal of reaching 20 percent of global chip production by 2030 was very unlikely, according to the source material.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
